Systainer Tool Organizer Tray with Side Handles (some of them retractable)

[Frank Pellow]

(part 1 of 2)

In the thread:  http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=6030.0, I talked about my design of a set of trays to be used as an alternative to Festool?s Tool Organizer Systainer 4 insert.  Here are a couple of pictures from that thread showing my design:

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In that thread, I also said that I planned to see what I could fit into a Systainer 5.

In thinking about it some more, I decided to simply add a fourth tray underneath the three that I was previously using in my Systainer 4.

Then I thought even more.  One of the disadvantages of the original set of trays is that the handle in the middle sometimes gets in the way of items that I want to place into the systainer.  

One thing that would work would be retractable handles at the sides of the trays.  For balance, two would be required.  So, I looked through my Lee Valley hardware catalogue seeing if they sold anything that would do the trick.  Nothing!

Then it came to me.  I could fabricate each tray side with a small trapped handle that could be pulled up with one finger.  Here are the components of such a side:

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1) The handle cut from  6mm Baltic Birch

2) The outside of the side cut from 12mm Baltic Birch.  A 6.6 mm deep groove was cut into the middle and two small blocks of 6mm Baltic Birch were glued and screwed at the top edges of the groove.

3) The inside of the side cut from 3mm Baltic Birch.

The inside and outside parts were than glued together (leaving out the handle for the time being).

The tray sides were attached to the tray fronts and backs using glue and screws.

Next the tray bottom was attached making sure to trap the handles:  

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In the rightmost picture above, the handles have been placed into the holes and glue has been applied to the bottom edges of the four tray sides.  I don't have a picture of the actual glue-up but you can be certain that I made sure that there was no glue on the handles.

 

[Frank Pellow]

(part 2 of 2)

Here is the completed tray filled and in the bottom of a Systainer 5:

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And here is one of my fingers reaching down to pull up a handle:

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The tray that I made can easily hold three Letter size Storage File cases that I purchased from Lee Valley (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=61947&cat=1,43326&pb=1#pb).  A nice thing about these cases is that the hasps are more substantial than on other cases that I investigated and they are replaceable.

I made divider grids from them from scrap pine and 3mm Baltic Birch:

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The pine edges are fixed but the dividers can be moved into various configurations.

Another way to fill the tray is with one of the above storage cases, a (so called) Infinite Divider System Storage Box from Lee Valley (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=32178&cat=1,43326) and a few other things:

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I have a few boxes of each type that I plan to fill.  Also, for now, I will probably make four more trays of this type.  I think that the best thing for me is to have a mixture trays with centre handles and ones with side handles.

 

[Mettes]

Hey Frank,

Great work, but I can't help thinking that it's a little overkill.
Instead of making the sliding handles you can just use fixed ones, less work and more room.

something like this, just a quick sketch...

You only loose two thicknesses of material at the sides instead of three and you can load your tray full, whereas if you want to use the sliding handles you need to leave room around the retracted handles.
The fifth or last tray you make without the handles or just one in the middle.

Just my two eurocents...

Cheers

 

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks Mettes, you are right.  Your design is both better than mine and easier to build.  Rather than build more four boxes with the retractable handles as I had intended to do, I will probably build some using your design.

Only one thing that you are wrong about.  Although I used three thicknesses they were 12, 6, and 3 mm for a total of 21mm.  With your design, I would probably use two 12mm thick pieces for a total of 24mm.

 

[Mettes]

Hey Frank,

glad to be of some help.

And if it doesn't work out like it should you have someone else to blame, instead of yourself...

"Sorry honey, i'll be working late tonight because that idiot from the other side of the pond has talked me in to something that does'nt work like it should!"

Post some pics when you've got them finished.

Cheers

 

[Eli]

Hey Frank,

Great work, but I can't help thinking that it's a little overkill.
Instead of making the sliding handles you can just use fixed ones, less work and more room.

something like this, just a quick sketch...

You only loose two thicknesses of material at the sides instead of three and you can load your tray full, whereas if you want to use the sliding handles you need to leave room around the retracted handles.
The fifth or last tray you make without the handles or just one in the middle.

Just my two eurocents...

Cheers

In fact, that's what mine look like, but I drilled Zobo holes for the handle holes. Also I didn't bother to offset the sides so that they nest, the top one just sits on top of the bottom one. But as I said elsewhere, I only use one, so I'm not sure what it even does except keep stuff up against the side of the systainers.

Yours are awesome Frank. I love the handles.

 

[Frank Pellow]

I made a completely new new set of four trays for a Systainer 5, starting with the design proposed by Mettes.  I did modify it a little bit, but did stick to the idea of having no centre handles.

Here is the top tray in position (but empty to show the details):

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Observe that this tray has retractable handles.

Here is the second tray from the top:

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Note that the holes line up with those in the tray above to accommodate really long vertically stored tools (mainly long screw drivers).

Here is the third tray from the tap:

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Here is the bottom tray:

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And, finally, here are all four trays removed from the systainer:

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[Dave Ronyak]

Very nice design and construction, Frank.  I especially like the through holes to accomodate long items such as screwdrivers.

Have you tried filling it?  How much does it weigh  with just the trays?  When the trays are filled?

What do you plan if you want to include a set of wood chisels?

Dave R.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks Dave.  I am having fun with this and will probably continue to tweak the design as I get more experience with it and as others make suggestions for improvements.

It's funny that you should ask about chisels.  I currently have three cheap ones in the Systainer 4 trays but, just about an hour ago, I was thinking about how I would transport a better set.  Here is a photo of my Lee Valley set laying in a tray:

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As you can see in the photo, the wooden box that holds them is too big.  Right now, I am debating whether to build something for them or purchasing a tool roll such as: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?&p=30006&cat=1,41504,41613  It's likely that I will opt for the tool roll.

The systainer 5 with the trays but no tools weighs 8 kilos (about 18 pounds).  

I have not completely filled it yet, just tested the trays with various tools and hardware.

 

[Peterm]

Hey Frank, nice work; I particularly like your retractable handles combined with the offset side handles from Mettes - I think this is one of those projects that will never be truly finished! I spent a couple of happy hours in the workshop yesterday fiddling with another couple of trays as I've decided that I need different depths for different uses...

FWIW, I keep my 'good' chisels in a tool roll, though I can see the appeal of having a 'chisel tray' to add to the stack when required!

Great stuff, thanks for sharing it.

Cheers, Pete

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Frank,

For your chisels tray, you could add some dividers.  Alternatively, you could add an insert to that tray custom fitted to your chisels.  If the chisels were rotated so their blades were not flat against the bottom of the tray, the would take up less area in plan view.

Dave R

 

[Frank Pellow]

Frank,

For your chisels tray, you could add some dividers.  Alternatively, you could add an insert to that tray custom fitted to your chisels.  If the chisels were rotated so their blades were not flat against the bottom of the tray, the would take up less area in plan view.

Dave R

Thanks for the tips Dave, but I have decided against a special purpose set of dividers for my chisels.  I don't forsee taking my chisels out of my shop often enough to warrant such dividers.  So, earler today, I purchased a tool roll for the few times that I do want to take them with me.  Here are a couple of photos of the tool roll n use with a good set of chisels:

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[Frank Pellow]

I confess to a mistake that I made when building the retractable handles.  :-[  As shown above, there is an indent on inside of the tray beside the handle in order that one can grip the handle with one?s finger and pull it up. This should, of course, be cut before gluing the side assembly together. I did this as I should for the first side, but forgot to do so for the second side. This left me with:

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What to do?

I decided that, if I had a very short jigsaw blade, then I could cut a notch out of the top layer of plywood leaving the bottom layer untouched. OK, I have a couple of Bosch blades and one of them was fated to become short:

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Hey, it worked as planned!    In this picture, I have started the cut:

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Notice the very short blade in the saw.

But, I didn?t learn my lesson.  :-[  :-[  A couple of days ago, I was making two more sides with retractable handles and, this time, I forgot to cut the notch before glue-up on both the sides. Time to get out the short blade again:

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[Dave Ronyak]

Frank, I like your chisel storage method better than my suggestion.  Good idea to store the chisels with a plane and scraper.

RE scrapers, I have an old Stanley bench scraper holder with blade, and gave up on it.  I find I can control the cutting action of a scraper blade best by using it freehand which allows the angle of attack, the amount of bending, the specific area of the scraper edge doing the cutting and the force/pressure being all to be controlled and modification of my style immediately when needed to get the scraping action I want. 

Dave R.

 

[Frank Pellow]

In another thread yesterday, I reported that:


It appears that quite a few pictures that I posted before Festool took over ownership of this forum are now missing.  I contacted Shane about this and there is nothing that he can do.   [sad]   So, when I know about missing photos in threads, I will retrieve them from my computer backup and place them into the thread again.  This will take some time.


Each time I fix a thread, I will post a note at the end of that thread reporting that I have restored the missing pictures.

I have now restored the pictures in this thread.